ITR Filing Last Date: The last date to file Income Tax Returns (ITR) for the financial year 2020-21 (AY 2021-22) has been extended multiple times—first from July 31 to September, then to December 31, and finally to March 31, 2022. Filing ITR is mandatory for everyone, even if your tax liability is zero and income is below the taxable limit, set by the government. For the unversed, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, belying expectations, did not tinker with the personal income tax rates in the Budget for 2022-23. She also did not raise standard deduction, which was widely anticipated in view of elevated inflation levels and impact of the pandemic on the middle class. The standard deduction currently stands at Rs 50,000.
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What Will Happen If You Don’t File ITR by March 31?
Taxpayers may also face higher TDS (tax deducted at source)
In case an individual fails the deadline, the I-T department can levy up to 50 per cent penalty under Section 270 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. You will have to pay interest on the due amount for the number of days till the date of filing ITR.
Individual with an annual income of more than Rs 5 lakh will be asked to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 under Section 234 if the ITR is submitted after March 31. People with an income less than Rs 5 lakh will be asked to pay Rs 1,000.
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A Step-By-Step Guide To File Income Tax Return
- Visit the income tax e-portal official site.
- Click on the ‘login here’ option on the homepage.
- The, you need to type in permanent account number (PAN) in the ‘enter your user ID’ option, and then hit the continue button.
- In this step, the taxpayer needs to confirm the ‘secure access message’ that they have received. After this, click on continue.
- Now, one needs to choose if they want to receive the six-digit one-time password (OTP) via text message or voice call.
- Soon after selecting the option, click on enter.
- Notably, the OTP will be valid for 15 minutes only, after which one has to generate a new one and will have a total of three chances to enter the correct OTP.
- Then, you can use registered Aadhaar number or net banking to login to the income tax e-filing portal.
- While using Aadhaar option, the number as well as the OTP that will come in the registered mobile number need to be provided, while for net banking, the taxpayer has to enter their user ID and password to get access to the account.
- After completion of the login process, the IT returns for financial year 2021-22 need to be processed as per the directions given on the screen.
- The taxpayers must note that missing the deadline to file the IT return will invite penalty and thereby, making one pay more taxes.
